Purple Heart veteran gets 'Home for a Hero'

by Barbara Morse Silva

A Purple Heart veteran got a 'Home for a Hero' on Saturday.

KINGSTON, RI —

Owning a home is the American dream. And soon, Taylor and Alison Gleason and their two boys will be living the dream in their new home in Kingston. And they have sweat equity in this home thanks to the South County Habitat for Humanity's Home For A Hero program for wounded veterans.

"It was amazing. We learned a lot," said Alison. "It's really great to be a part of building your own home. Not a lot of people get that opportunity"

Between them, Alison and Taylor put about 150 hours of sweat equity in to their new three bedroom, two bath home in Kingston, Rhode Island. The Gleason family chosen, in part, because of Taylor's impressive military service.

"He's served actually in both the Marines and the Army and he served time in Kosovo," said Lou Raymond, executive director of South County Habitat for Humanity.

"When he was in the Army he served in Iraq and he's a purple heart (recipient) and so he has a distinguished military career."

The groundbreaking took place on the Gleason's new home 18 months ago. And since then, a number of agencies and businesses have donated money and time. National Grid was the largest donor with a $30,000 allocation. The electric company also supplied a team of volunteers.

"The URI students filled in the rest of the gaps for volunteers, church groups and everything so it was a whole community effort to bring this thing together," said Raymond. And now the Gleason's will not only soon be living the American dream, they'll be paying almost half of what they were paying in rent.

"We're just very grateful and we can't wait to continue working with habitat for years helping other families get the same opportunity we did," said Alison.

This is an extra special weekend for the Gleason's. Taylor graduates from URI Sunday with a degree in mechanical engineering. The Gleason's hope to move in to their new home by the end of this month.